Working with Teacher Aides

During today's lecture I really reflected on how teacher aides are seen/used in the classroom. I believe their is almost a continuum for how well a teacher aide is integrated into a classroom. At one end there is no integration, where the teacher aide works solely with their assigned child with little to no support from the classroom teacher. At the other end there is full integration, where the teacher aide works with their assigned and other members of the classroom with full support from the teacher. It is critical as classroom teachers that we work with teacher aides at the integrated end of the continuum as it benefits every child in the class.

This page from My Bright Orange Vest shows a teacher aide floundering her responsibility with no support from the classroom teacher.

Thinking back to the lecture, it was interesting to note that often teacher aides have little to no training, and that they often receive minimal support from teachers. That means that students who are paired with them have little to no meaningful access to the curriculum (Rutherford, 2009).

Here are my teaching tips for working with teacher aides.

• Communicate with them! In my classroom I will ensure that I hold regular meetings with my aide so that he/she is comfortable with providing meaningful access to the curriculum.
• Provide them with support when needed! sometimes aides need a break and letting them take over group while you work with their assigned child let them have a rest.